Curator Lill-Ann Chepstow-Lusty and Terje Emberland, head of research at the Holocaust Center, and archeologists from the museum have worked together to uncover and expose the Nazi’s distorted view of history. Minus five tells the little known and sometimes unpleasant story of the "viking propaganda" in the pre-war years. Archeological objects are juxtaposed With Nazi propaganda posters. The quasi-research carried out by Heinrich Himmler's organization "Ahnenerbe" (Ancestral Heritage) created an image of a master race originating in Northern Europe with manifest destiny to rule the world. This was an ideology that laid the framework for war and genocide.
The idealisation of the ancient Germanic tribes was an important part of Nazi ideology. The Germanic forefathers had not only created an exceptionally high culture in Northern Europe, but had also managed to spread it to all corners of the world. Through their “pure Nordic blood” the Germanic tribes constituted the most “culturally creative” race in history.
"Since our own mythical works have been lost, the Nordic Edda, along with various other works, can provide an image of the related Germanic mythology, which was destroyed by Charlemagne. In the same way, the remains of folk art and rural culture in Norway can show us what the Germania of Central Europe would have looked like before the Roman West-Frankish cultural distortion and devastation took place."
Extract from the journal Odal, 1934.
Leaving Minus Five you enter the Pride room.
